The FCA has launched a review on how consumer investment firms support bereaved customers.
Firms that advise, manage, or administer investments – including platforms, advisers and wealth managers – will be assessed on how they support vulnerable customers, communicate, their service standards, and how fees are handled on bereaved accounts.
The regulator will examine customers’ experience from the point of notifying the firm about a bereavement, through to settlement or transfer of investments.
The review follows similar FCA assessments of in retail banking and insurance, where the regulator found good practice was inconsistent and bereaved customers regularly faced unclear processes, repeated information requests and avoidable delays.
According to findings from Critical Research, only 47% of bereaved customers felt they received the support they needed from financial firms.
Kate Tuckley, head of department, consumer investments, at the FCA, said: “When someone loses a loved one, the last thing they need is confusing letters, delays and poor service from their financial provider.
“We want firms to design bereavement processes with people, not paperwork, at their centre. These processes are a real test of a firm’s culture and key to consumer trust.”
The FCA will now begin contacting selected firms as part of the review and will publish findings later this year, highlighting good practice and areas for improvement as one of its Consumer Investments Regulatory Priorities.
